I’m hopeful that by the end of the tribulation as much as half of the survivors will be “known” by our Father … and left behind (sheep … not goats) to populate the Millennial Kingdom.  The mention of “one taken and the other left” is a possible indicator of the ratio, but two is a small sample.  What if there were three women grinding at the mill?  Would one be taken and two left, or two taken and one left?  It would be helpful for God to have given us a higher sample rate to know if the number remaining will be 50% or 33% or less?

And we have that!

The ten virgins.

So, you see why I have hope that as much as half of the surviving will be “known” and stay.

Considering the rapture event, Paul said that the dead would rise first … not concurrently with the living. 

Why?

It appears that those risen dead will meet Jesus in the clouds.

Why not just go straight to the Father?

I suspect that it’s so that the event will be noticed by those who are on the ground.  It’s for them to see.

We have a record of a similar type of event.  Not up in the air … but on the ground.

Matthew 27:50 – And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

It seems to indicate that the deceased from Adam to the cross who are “known” by God were resurrected, and I suspect that they were ultimately taken to the Father in Heaven. 

In about 95 AD, (62 years after the cross), John tells us that he sees 24 “elders” around the throne in Heaven = some of those resurrected at the time of the cross.  Most likely they are the human spokesmen, (prophets), for God during what we would know as the Old Testament era.

That would mean that the group of “known” who have died and “sleep” that will be resurrected “raptured” will be the ones from the cross to the rapture.

How many people might that be?

You may be aware that worldwide, about 150,000 people on average die every day.  Obviously if we take that number times 365 and then times about 2,000 years, it’s a lot of people.  But the number dying each day would be less when there was less total population. 

The estimate that the god AI provided is that between 85 and 95 billion people have died since 33 AD.  Let’s say that’s a bit high and use 80 billion.  Half of that would be 40 billion.

That’s a staggering amount.  So, let’s say that really only 10% of people become fully known by God.  We are still at 8 billion on the day of the rapture.

Either way, when those dead in Christ are simultaneously resurrected and meet in the clouds, it will be a monumental scene.

Imagine all the satellites that look down on the earth recording 8 to 40 billion people gathering in the clouds. With that density, it may be hard for the satellite’s lenses to see through the people down to earth, all of it being recorded in the satellite’s memory and transmitted to earth for all to see.

I don’t think that it will be explainable as “alien abduction”.

“Then” Paul says.  Then, we who are alive will meet them.  How long between the dead rising and the living rising?  Minutes?  Hours?  What is God doing here?

I suggest that the number who are alive and go to meet the deceased will be about 1.4 million.  I get that number by taking the 144,000 who are called the “first fruits” as a “tenth” of the total number.  Do the math.  Such a small number will be insignificant when mixed in with multiple billions.

God seems to do things big like that in order to show His glory.  No way around this one.  It will be seen for what it is, God working His will.  Not alien abduction.  The question I have is how anyone left behind can ignore that event?  How does the Hindu, the Bundist, the Muslim, and the atheist ignore the fact that only the true God can do that?

Keep in mind that on the seventh day God “rested”.  We are not told that He was done.

In the Old Testament, God instituted a Jubilee year cycle where things were to return to the original condition after the 49^th year.

A good argument can be made that as we add up the time lengths of the lineage from Adam to Jesus, it is very, very close to 4,000 years.  Perhaps exactly 4,000 years.  We know that the Millennial Kingdom will be exactly 1,000 years.  Why did God tell us that time length in advance?

We are approaching 2,000 years since Jesus arrived as King and was rejected.  The first Palm Sunday.

Again, do the math, 4,000 + 2,000 + 1,000 = 7,000.  If day 7 of creation was to be 7,000 years, then 7 total days of creation would be 49,000 years.  Then God “resumes” creating.  A new Heaven and a new earth.  The eighth day so to speak.

Palm Sunday in 2033 is April 10.  Back up 7 Jewish years of 360 days each, and we get to May 17, 2026.  Back up from there 3 days (an ominous number of days) and we get to May 14.  The day we celebrate the ascension of Jesus into the clouds.

The birth date of the modern Nation of Israel.

Perhaps our Father will act on those dates?  Perhaps not?

You figure it out.